Development Camp Quick Hits: Junly 3, 2023
1) Today is Day 2 of the Flyers' 2023 Development Camp. The on-ice schedule will see Team Lindros on the ice from 10:15 a.m. EDT to 11:00 a.m. and then switch rinks from 11:15 a.m. to noon. The Team Clarke group is on Flyers ice from 12:30 p.m. EDT to 1:15 p.m. and switch rinks from 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Note that this the reverse schedule from Sunday. As always, sessions at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees are open to the public and free to attend.
2) The sessions in Voorhees are being run by Riley Armstrong and Nick Schultz, the Flyers development program directors. Armstrong, who previously coached the ECHL's Maine Mariners (his boss was Danny Briere) and served last season as a Lehigh Valley Phantoms assistant coach, spoke to the media after Sunday's opening day work on the ice.
When he returned, after playing a couple adrenaline-driven games (in which he found his way onto the scoresheet), Brink predictable struggled to fully regain his skating and timing in quick order. A player can do all the rehab and full-contact practices in the world, but there's no substitute for game action. Brink has always been more about quickness and creativity than speed, and the 5-foot-8 winger labored for a couple of months after returning. His point production was OK -- although below the standard he's capable of generating -- but there were too many games where his on-ice impact was limited to one play or one shift there.
Late in the 2022-23 season, however, Brink started to look more like himself again. He had a solid stretch drive for Ian Laperriere's team but would have liked to have been more of a difference maker in the Phantoms' best-of-three loss to the Charlotte Checkers in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.
Brink, who appears to have added additional muscle, did a media availability session on Sunday. Now completely healthy, he's looking forward to turning the page on last season. If the 2023-24 regular season roster had to be set tomorrow, the 22-year-old (his 22nd birthday will be on July 8) would most likely begin the campaign back with the Phantoms rather than on the NHL squad with the Flyers.
However, there's plenty of time until those decisions have to be made. Brink could move up the depth chart if he has an especially strong training camp. The Flyers are a bit overloaded on the right wing but the NHL's bottom-ranked power play of the last two seasons could use a boost. Head coach John Tortorella need not even give Brink a clean slate because he's never seen him play due to the hip surgery than forced the player to miss camp. Brink did not appear in any NHL games last season after playing in 10 for Mike Yeo at the end of the 2021-22 season. Thus, as far as Tortorella is concerned, Brink will be evaluated from scratch.
As far as Development Camp goes, Foerster is in his final one. By camp standards, the 21-year-old right winger, is a veteran. As such, Armstrong and the organization are looking to Foerster to take on a camp leader role and help the first-time attendees along the way.
The short, simplified version: If Andrae makes the Flyers' NHL roster out of training camp, he'll play in North America for certain. However, if he does not make the big club, it will be up to SHL team HV71 Jönköping to decide whether Andrae must return to Sweden to be loaned to that club for the 2023-24 season or if he can instead play in the American Hockey League to play for Lehigh Valley.
There are two avenues by which Andrae could end up in Allentown. He could be loaned by the Flyers to the Phantoms via permission from HV71. The other route would essentially amount to a buyout of the Swedish club's contractual rights to the player.
For his part, not surprisingly, Andrae's goal is to play in the NHL as soon as possible.
Polina was pregnant with Aleks at the time of Dmitri's passing after a horrific boating accident while he was attending a summer hockey program in Kelowna, British Columbia, on July 23, 1999. She remained in Philadelphia for many years and built a new life for herself. Aleks was born and primarily raised locally. To this day, he and his mom remains Flyers fans. His physical resemblance to his dad (affectionately nicknamed "Tree" by Flyers teammates during his tragically short NHL career).
Aleks' young hockey career has taken him from the Delaware Valley to prep school, the NAHL, two seasons in the MHL in his father's native Chelyabinsk, Russia, and later to collegiate hockey. He had a breakthrough 2020-21 campaign in the NAHL for the Northeast Generals but, for various reasons, hasn't played much hockey the last couple years. Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr invited Tertyshny to participate in Development Camp this year (the pandemic scuttled a previous opportunity to attend).
Aleks' presence at Development Camp is one of the feel-good stories from this year's session. Here's wishing Polina all the best and a successful season at Stonehill for Aleks.
Cole Knuble got his start playing hockey while his dad was playing for the Flyers. It was common to see him around the rink at the complex in Voorhees. Along with Mattias Samuelsson (Kjell's son, now with the Buffalo Sabres), Cole was one of the kids featured in a Coatesy's Corner segment with Steve Coates ("Santa Coatesy") during childhood.
Later this month, incoming Notre Dame freshman Knuble will be one of three Flyers prospects participating in USA Hockey's World Junior Championships Showcase in Plymouth, Michigan. Also attending are 2022 first-round pick Cutter Gauthier and a 2022 third-round selection Devin Kaplan.
Kaplan is a returnee to Development Camp this year, which technically means that the player (or his family) had to cover all of his attendance-related expenses. (For more info, see the related section in FAQ section on CollegeHockeyInc.com.
My mother-in-law, Susan Lambeth, was diagnosed in December with Stage 4 lung cancer that spread to her spine and brain. Last week in hospice, she took a turn for the worse. She passed away on Saturday night, surrounded by family members.
I want to take a moment here to express my appreciation to all who have reached out to pass along their condolences to my family and me. I am especially grateful to Flyers fans Brian George for making a contribution to St. Jude's and to Steven Callendar for contributing to the SPCA in Susan's memory.
My mother-in-law was one of a kind. She had a way with animals (especially cats) and plants. She spoke a language of her own ("gamwag", among other self-invented words). She loved classic rock and R&B (she could listen all day to Zapp & Roger or Hendrix) and, in a grocery store, might just break aloud into Kurtis Blow's "Basketball". There was hardly a movie from the 1950s to mid 1960s she'd never seen. Most of all, and this is she had something in common with Flyers legend Bernie Parent, she was a huge fan of The Three Stooges comedies. Oh, and she hated cell phones, still used a typewriter, and preferred VHS tapes to DVD or digital.
After her upcoming funeral on Wednesday -- I will not be writing or blogging that day -- we will go back to the house, put on some of her Three Stooges VHS tapes, eat some of her favorite foods, and laugh about stories of situations that only Susan could get herself into and out of. I'll miss her.
Flyers Daily: July 3, 2023
The NHL Draft has come and gone, Free Agency has begun and the Flyers have been quite busy. Jason Myrtetus and I discuss all of this and more on this week's Mondays with Meltzer edition of Flyers Daily, plus the monthly "Ask Billy" mailbag feature of listener-submitted questions, To listen, click here.